Theme: Gender, the Professions and Public Management: Changing Governance, Changing Equality? New Labour, Modernization and Public Services

Abstract

This article explores the implications for issues of equality and diversity in the Labour government’s programme of public service modernization. Networks and partnerships are viewed as a response to the increasing complexity and ambiguity of the public realm. But in the new knowledge-based and networked economy, ‘who you know’, and whether you can access the crucial networks, is becoming highly significant. As the site of action shifts, so equality agendas must be renegotiated.